<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>lost on the road of life (but not really) by Zakyuu</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533235">lost on the road of life (but not really)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakyuu/pseuds/Zakyuu'>Zakyuu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dead Quirin AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flawed Rapunzel, How Do I Tag, Hurt Varian (Disney), Hurt/Comfort, I'm so sorry Quirin, Multi, Recovery, Secret Relationship, She's not perfect, Sort Of, There's so much spoilers for the tags, Trauma, Varian Needs a Hug (Disney), Whump, and he gets lots of those and more, but she is trying, but that ship is platonic as fuck, but we respect astrid, no beta we die like men, secret friendships, the big four, there is a reason, you might have noticed I did not tagg hiccstrid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:41:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,749</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533235</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakyuu/pseuds/Zakyuu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rapunzel makes a choice.</p><p>(This secret is one she's kept for so long, has guarded with an intensity that no one has ever faced.</p><p>But Corona leaves her with no choice.</p><p>"I need to ask you for a favor.")</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Rapunzel &amp; Varian (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>lost on the road of life (but not really)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I took three goddamn hours to write this first chapter. I love this brain child so much but there is literally NOTHING pre-written for this. I'm just making this shit up as I go.</p><p>Please enjoy, I spent a while making this. It's nearing 3 AM my dudes I have still not stopped writing. I wrote from 11 AM qwq </p><p>(help I'm slowly dying)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It takes Rapunzel three days before she finally caves in.</p><p>Dealing with the aftermath of the Saporian’s brief take-over and cheering the citizens up was difficult, but doable.</p><p>Trying to find Cassandra’s whereabouts while trying not to bring notice to the fact that one of Corona’s most promising knights had gone rogue was a lot harder, but under the iron will of Rapunzel it was done. Slowly, even, but it did get done.</p><p>Honestly, though, there was only so much pressure she could take.</p><p>And now she had to deal with a depressed, self-deprecating teenager who, while not trying to actively harm Corona anymore, was still prone to…well, <em>everything</em>.</p><p>It’s not like Varian isn’t worth the hassle. He IS. He’s the baby brother Rapunzel never got a chance to have (not even with her friends -- with them she was ALWAYS the baby despite actually being older than them -- the disadvantages of being isolated from literally everything, she guesses) and she will be damned if she lets anything hurt him ever again.</p><p>Rapunzel failed him once before. She is determined not to fail Varian ever again.</p><p>But it seems fate decided differently.</p><p>She warned him that it might not work. That even though she could get Quirin out of the amber, there’s a slight possibility that he would not come out...alive.</p><p>And to the worst of her fears, the moment Quirin slumped down after being released from the amber, he dropped down dead, right in front of his son.</p><p>It took a long while for Varian to stop sobbing. Not that Rapunzel stopped him. She was crying alongside him, trying desperately to sing him back to health. Nothing worked. Not her hair, not Varian’s various chemicals, not even the medical professionals could bring him back. No matter how hard they coaxed, it was a hard cold fact that Quirin of Old Corona was dead.</p><p>And there was nothing they could do about it.</p><p>Varian had been inconsolable immediately after that.</p><p>Rapunzel had acted quickly -- she had Varian move into the room beside hers, and her father, surprisingly, had put up minimal fuss about it. She could sense the lingering guilt that permeated his presence, and she had no mind to coax it away. A petty part of her believed he deserved it, after everything he put the father-son duo through.</p><p>The moment she and Eugene tried visiting him though, he had lashed out.</p><p>It was…bad, for the lack of a better term. He wasn’t trying to plan the demise of Corona, he had enough sense to realize that his father’s death wasn’t on the kingdom’s hands, but he’d still reacted…horribly.</p><p>“Just leave me <em>ALONE</em>!” he’d shouted at them, and both Eugene and Rapunzel were forced to stay outside his room while listening to Varian’s desolate cries. They wanted to help. They really, really did. But Varian wasn’t letting them in.</p><p>It wasn’t until Ruddiger went behind his back to unlock the doors that Rapunzel managed to slip past the wooden barricades and embrace Varian to offer the comfort she wasn’t able to give him before.</p><p>“Let go of me!” Varian snarls, twisting and tugging away from her grip, but Rapunzel is nothing if not stubborn and she holds on like it is the last thing she could possibly do.</p><p>“I won’t let you do this to yourself, Varian,” she tells him softly.</p><p>He wasn’t taking care of himself. Eugene had brought it up with her a day after they had taken Varian in. She assumed he was being taken care of, because he never left his room and the others seemed unconcerned, and had pegged it as him needing some time alone and recollect.</p><p>Apparently she had been wrong.</p><p>The staff in charge of leaving Varian food had been neglecting the poor child when said child lashed out in anger.</p><p>Rapunzel knew everyone was still furious with Varian over the fact that he’d harmed their country not once, but twice -- but surely they had enough decency to at least leave him food? They did it for the prisoners, and they were actual unrepentant humans for crying out loud. They couldn’t at least shred of decency for a child who, may she reiterate, <em>had recently lost his innocent father?</em></p><p>Rapunzel had to quickly shed her rose-tinted glasses about Corona after that. Even if Corona had prided itself in being the most hospitable, cheery, and amicable kingdom in the continent, they were still at the whims of negative emotions like anger, greed, and worst of all -- vengeance.</p><p>Corona’s citizens were slow to anger, but when they did they were rather adamant about it. Which explained their behavior towards Varian.</p><p>He was tolerated, but only barely. They never quite forgave him for his crimes against the kingdom.</p><p>Which was fair, but she’d at least hope seeing her favor over him would let them treat him indifferently, if not fairly.</p><p>They did not.</p><p>Eugene finally clued her in when he informed her that Varian wasn’t eating. He’d noticed it when he spent the whole day around the kitchen for…some reason. She hasn’t asked what for, of course, but she would soon.</p><p>He listened in on the chef and maid’s conversation, that none of them were particularly happy they had to make the traitor food even if their princess had ordered them to. He’d caught wind that when Varian had rejected the first two calls for eating, they’d coldly stopped.</p><p>It was unacceptable.</p><p>So she takes it upon herself to barge in. She understands that Varian is angry, even empathizes with that anger to a degree -- but she will not let him starve himself to death.</p><p>She already lost Cassandra. Rapunzel refuses to lose anyone else.</p><p>“Go away! Let me go!” Varian tries to sick his elbows, his sharp-jointed elbows that could dig deep into her torso, but she is made of tougher stuff than that. Eugene had described her with a word once -- tenacious.</p><p>And tenacity would wear down Varian’s walls. She’s sure of it.</p><p>“Varian, please. I know you’re upset, you have every right to be,” she tells him then. “But let me be there for you. I want to help you.”</p><p>“How could you possibly help me?” he cries. The struggles were growing weaker, but Rapunzel does not let him go. What Varian needs is someone to support him, and Rapunzel will be that support. “My father is <em>gone</em>. He’s gone because I was a stupid, stupid kid that made a terrible mistake.” He chokes on his breath at the word mistake.</p><p>“Varian…” Rapunzel wants to say a lot of things. She wants to say how sorry she is that she couldn’t have come sooner when he needed her most, how she should have checked up on him after the storm receded. Wants to tell him that she made a mistake too, that day of the storm, for not acting sooner, for not being better.</p><p>But being a princess meant that she had a duty to her kingdom. Being the princess meant she had to put aside her personal desires for the good of the kingdom.</p><p>Being the princess meant she had to remember that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.</p><p>She knows Varian understands this.</p><p>“Rapunzel I have nothing else,” he pleads, and Rapunzel hates how desperate his voice sounds, how small and vulnerable he is making himself to be. It’s not his fault, but Rapunzel hates it all the same. “Everything I do always ends up a failure,” Varian’s breath catches on a sob, as he finally ceases movement. There’s a hollowness to his voice that Rapunzel does not like.</p><p>“I failed my dad. I failed my village.” The rage and denial in his voice go out, replaced by an anguished whisper that rings loudly in the silence. “There’s nothing left for me to lose.”</p><p>Rapunzel, with gentle hands, gentle fingers, coaxes Varian to turn in her arms. She doesn’t want, she <em>can’t</em> let him go. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t know what to say.</p><p>But she knows Varian needs this. Needs to feel a little less alone, a little less like there’s nothing left for him.</p><p>There’s something fragile she senses in Varian, and she needs to be delicate in how she handles him from here on out. She knows, at the bottom of her heart, that he will need this. That this moment will be very important for the two of them.</p><p>And honestly, she feels like she needs this too. For too long she’s been holding herself up with optimism and cheeriness, ignoring her more negative emotions in favor of more positive ones.</p><p>But she’s seen how far bottling emotions up can take you. She’s seen how damaging it is to just keep thinking everything would be okay when it’s not.</p><p>So she lets herself go. Finds the sadness in her heart that she keeps hidden away and pulls it up and brings tears to her eyes.</p><p>Because she’s so, so scared. She’s so angry and scared and frustrated that nothing has been going her way, that she still can’t have her happy ending. After everything she’s been through, after all the problems she’s solved, she still can’t get to the end of her story.</p><p>She still feels helpless. She can’t help her friends no matter how much she tries and that -- that isn’t a good thing. She’s supposed to be stronger now. Tougher. But no matter how hard she tries, when it really matters there’s nothing she can do.</p><p>And that -- that makes her cry.</p><p>“I’m so <em>sorry</em>, Varian,” she brushes his hair even if she’s about to lose it herself. There’s something comforting about it, a gesture so intimate and loving that reminds her of family. “I <em>wish </em>I could help you but I don’t know what to <em>do</em>,” she feels tears slip past her cheeks.</p><p>“You’re an <em>amazing person,</em> Varian,” she tells him. “When I first met you I was so startled that for someone so young, you knew a lot about everything. So much more than I did.”</p><p>“<em>Really?</em>”</p><p>Rapunzel chuckles wetly, resting her cheek at the crown of his head. Varian was nestled tightly against her, clutching as tightly as she was clinging to him. “That’s right,” she says. “You had these <em>really </em>cool inventions, and I could never figure out the names of the chemicals you were making. You know, I was thinking of asking you to make me special paints. Maybe ones that glow in the dark. That would have been really cool,”</p><p>“I…made some…already…” Varian admits. Rapunzel hums, not really surprised. “I was trying to make smoke bombs but I made a mistake somewhere in my calculations and ended up with liquefied powder instead.”</p><p>“That must have been nice,” Rapunzel remarks. “At least you got something out of it, right?”</p><p>It takes a moment before Varian replies. “I…I guess it does…I still made a mistake though.”</p><p>“You figured it out,” Rapunzel argues, hating the way he seems to shrink in on himself when he recalls that he made a mistake. “You always do.”</p><p>“Not when it’s important,” Varian stubbornly refutes, and while normally Rapunzel would be glad that she and Varian share the same trait, it’s not so appreciated now as it works against her.</p><p>“It still counts,” she says, just as stubborn. “And you will figure it out, whatever it is that comes your way.”</p><p>Varian’s grip becomes tight. There’s something bitter and angry in his voice. “Worked out so well for my father, didn’t it?”</p><p>“That wasn’t your fault, Varian,” she says.</p><p>“Wasn’t it?” Varian snaps. “<em>I </em>was the one who messed with the black rocks. I was the one who was <em>stupid </em>enough to get near the damn things when I was explicitly told not to,”</p><p>“You were trying to help!”</p><p>Varian pushes away from her, eyes blazing with fury and despair. “I STILL FAILED, DIDN’T I? I JUST MADE IT <em>WORSE</em>!” he cries, the dam finally breaking. His eyes glisten in warning, and water gathers up at the corners. “<em>Everything </em>I ever try to do to help only makes the situation worse, Rapunzel,” he whispers, voice breaking, stuttering. Tears freely streak down his face like a waterfall, and his shoulders tremble, like a heavy weight settled on his shoulders without her noticing.</p><p>“That’s not true,” Rapunzel says. “You’ve helped me plenty of times.” She runs gentle fingers through his hair, and helps him breathe better with every stroke.</p><p>“That’s a lie,” Varian replies petulantly, afterwards. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”</p><p>“Is it?” Rapunzel refutes. “You may not have realized it Varian, but in a way you did help me. There’s a lot of things I learned just by being with you. I learned a lot about the world thanks to you. Sure, not all of it was pretty or friendly, but you opened my eyes, Varian. I’m not as naive as I was before.”</p><p>“...That doesn’t really make me feel better,” he tells her.</p><p>Rapunzel shrugs. “It wasn’t meant to.” The admission makes him scowl at her, hurt, but she smooths his hair back and lays a caring hand on his cheek. “But I still think you’re not giving yourself enough credit.”</p><p>“That’s easy for you to say,” he says, a hopeless look on his face. “You see the good in everyone.”</p><p>And it’s true. Rapunzel has gone out of her way trusting everyone she meets, because she always believes there’s a hint of good in people, especially her people. This has always included Varian. When he turned on her and Corona, she knew it was because she’d hurt him first, and while it was no excuse to hurt others, she’d be blind not to realize she was the cause of it in the first place.</p><p>That was also the case for Cassandra, she supposes. The woman was her lady-in-waiting turned bodyguard for most of her adventures, and Rapunzel trusted her immensely. For some reason she couldn’t decipher, she had hurt Cassandra deeply, and that caused her to lash out, exactly like Varian had.</p><p>But she knows that Cass still had that good in her somewhere. She refused to believe it was gone, that Cass was beyond saving.</p><p>Just look at Varian, after all. Rapunzel was willing to bet he had a much more…debilitating reason to turn traitor than Cassandra did. As far as she could tell, Cassandra didn’t lose anyone important, not that she knew of anyway.</p><p>Actually that was a rather important thing to consider. Why HAD Cassandra turned, anyway? Maybe she could get a head-start in fixing things between them.</p><p>She realizes that through talking to Varian she has found a lead on how to solve her problems. He’s once again, helped her without knowing. Though she gets the feeling he wouldn’t like it if she tells him as such.</p><p>So she shrugs again and tugs him closer so she can hug him again. “It’s not failed me yet. You came back. Cassandra will come back, too. Eventually. I just need to figure her out.”</p><p>“I’m sure that has turned out <em>so well</em> for you.”</p><p>Is that snark she hears? Is she finally getting through to him?</p><p>“She’s still my friend, Varian. <em>I won’t give up</em>, you know that,” she replies.</p><p>Varian doesn’t lift his head up to meet her eyes, but he tightens his grip on her shirt anyway. “…I know you won’t.”</p><p>Rapunzel feels her heart warm at what Varian doesn’t say, but his actions imply all the same. ‘<em>I believe in you</em>,’ his hug seems to say. ‘<em>You didn’t give up on me. Thank you.</em>’</p><p>The next few minutes pass in silence. She enjoys it for as long as it lasts. She doesn’t get a whole lot of peace nowadays, since she’s busy helping her parents run the kingdom. She misses the outdoors, back when she was following the black rocks, misses the adventure into the unknown. It wasn’t really the black rocks that tipped her decision to leave. She just wanted to get away from the kingdom for a while. Now that she’s back, she’s taking every moment of peace she can get.</p><p>And being with Varian, right here, right now, is a blessing. She finally feels like she can breathe again.</p><p>She silently wonders if Varian is feeling at peace, too.</p><p>“Now then,” she smiles, because she feels infinitely better now that she’s let all of her feelings out, and she always bounced back up fairly quickly in the face of adversity. “I <em>know </em>you’ve been skipping meals Varian. That isn’t good. At this rate, you’ll never grow taller!”</p><p>He squawks in indignant rage, tearing himself away from her embrace. His face is aflame with either anger or embarrassment, she honestly can’t tell. “Hey! My genes are perfectly aligned, I’ll have you know!” He scoots a few inches away from her, but to her pleasure it’s still close enough for it to be intimate. “I’ll grow taller soon! I just have to be patient,” he says emphatically. Rapunzel nods agreeably.</p><p>“And eat your meals, I hope?” the question is rhetorical. They both know that if Varian doesn’t do it she’ll find a way to do it for him. And that is on a high level of embarrassment, at least on his part.</p><p>Varian nods, defeated. “I suppose I can’t just waste food,” he concedes. Rapunzel claps in triumph.</p><p>“Right.” She cups her hands around her mouth and calls out in the loudest voice she could muster. “<em>Eugene</em>! The food!”</p><p>“Rapunzel, what --?” Varian begins to question, but she shushes him.</p><p>“No no, just wait a bit, I <em>promise </em>you’re going to love it,” she tells him excitedly, and she can’t deny there’s a happy gleam in her eye.</p><p>It’s not better, not by a long shot. Varian still needs to come to terms with Quirin’s death, still needs to find his footing now that he’s changed, and he still needs to confront his past deeds.</p><p>But right now, safe and secluded from the world at large, they can both temporarily forget their worries, forget their fears, and let it be just about the people they care about. No being a princess with a duty to her kingdom, no being an alchemist with a thirst for proving himself to a father that will never be able to listen, just being two people, two siblings hanging out after a huge fight and Rapunzel has never been more at peace than she was at the moment.</p><p>There’s a knock on the door, and a head pops in to see Rapunzel nodding once before the door fully opens, revealing her boyfriend, smiling uncertainly.</p><p>“I hear it’s safe to come in?” Eugene leans at the door frame, hiding a cart behind him just in case he needs to make a break for it.</p><p>Varian snorts from the bed he and Rapunzel have settled in. “When is it ever safe? I sleep with dangerous chemicals on my person, Fitzherbert. It’s never safe.” When Rapunzel shoots him a look, he amends. “For <em>you</em>, at least.”</p><p><em>It’s different, this time</em>, Rapunzel notes. Varian has always been openly honest and innocent, back when they first met. Adorably so, now that Rapunzel cares to recall. There was just something really pure in the old Varian, untainted by the world and its cruelty.</p><p>Rapunzel was fond of that Varian, but she finds that she’s equally as fond of this Varian, too, as he exchanges banter with her boyfriend that is a little more mature -- a little darker, but not malicious.</p><p>“Oh, <em>ouch</em>,” Eugene places a hand on his chest, dramatically affected. “Where’s the love? The adoration? The affection you had for me?” he cries, stretching his hand out to Varian.</p><p>The alchemist sends him a dry look. “It died when you opened your mouth. What’s that behind you?”</p><p>Eugene makes a disgruntled noise as Rapunzel giggles in delight. “Alright, alright. First of all - <em>hey</em>!”</p><p>Chittering figures rush past him in a blur, and she only catches sight of a striped tail before Varian is being bowled over by a surprisingly strong raccoon.</p><p>“Ruddiger!” The absolute glee in Varian’s voice does not fail to make Rapunzel elated, even as she nuzzles Pascal who has run up her dress and onto her shoulder.</p><p>Ruddiger has taken residence on Varian’s face and it takes all of Rapunzel’s willpower not to laugh at the twitchy form he’s currently using to stop himself from absolutely murdering his trusted animal companion. Pascal has no such reservations, but he doesn’t really count since he’s normally really quiet except when he has to make a point anyway.</p><p>Eugene manages a snort before politely coughing it away and distracting himself by wheeling the food cart in. The two cloches settled on it is gleaming silver, but what gives it away is the clatter of the plates and silverware that are stacked underneath the top layer of the cart.</p><p>Varian sits up and squints at the cart. “Uh, what exactly is that?”</p><p>Eugene puffs out his chest in pride. “Well, Sunshine here left me with the important task of preparing a meal for all of us, <em>your excellency,</em>” he bows, but his eyes convey a certain mischievousness that Rapunzel has grown to love.</p><p>Varian looks affronted by the title. It seems he forgot that his father, despite their humble way of living, were actually important figures in the king’s court. As in, Quirin was the Duke of Old Corona. Which means, of course, that Varian is, by right, nobility.</p><p>It’s easy to see that Eugene is taking full advantage of this knowledge to tease the young alchemist.</p><p>Of course, Eugene bulldozes over Varian’s attempts to protest. “And I have it on <em>good authority</em>, and from a little…wingless birdie--” here Varian deigns to glare at Ruddiger, who happily chitters away without any regard for his human’s current displeasure, “--that you happen to <em>love </em>hot cocoa and apple pie.”</p><p>Eugene removes the cloches and presents them with a deliciously warm apple pie taken straight from the oven, coupled with five cups of hot delicious chocolatey goodness, topped with fluffy marshmallows.</p><p>At Varian’s surprised and overwhelmed look, Rapunzel explains. “I thought that you might not want to leave this room for a while,” she confesses, tucking her hair behind her ear. “So instead of dragging you to the dining hall, I thought --” she gestures to the cart. “I thought that maybe I could just bring the food to you. You know, like an indoor picnic?” she tries, although she does not appreciate the dry and exasperated look Eugene shoots her.</p><p>Varian looks at her, and there’s something vulnerable about him, this time. “You -- you would do that?” he looks absolutely astonished. “For <em>me</em>?”</p><p>Rapunzel, for all the lessons she’s learned about social cues, still doesn’t get what the big deal about this is. “Of course,” she says. “You’re worth it.” She still doesn’t get it, but she tries anyway. She’s not just talking about what’s happening right now. He’s <em>always </em>going to be worth it.</p><p>Her friends always are.</p><p>And for her little brother? The little brother she’s always dreamed of having? This is nothing. She’d do more for him, if it was in her power to.</p><p>“I…” Varian seems to get choked up a little, so Eugene hands him a cup of warm cocoa to swallow it down, whatever it is he’s choking on. But Varian only stares at the cup with something almost like wonder on his face, like he still can’t believe it’s happening.</p><p>“Just drink it, kid,” Eugene shows a rare moment of maturity, and gently convinces the teen to drink. Rapunzel has her own cup of cocoa now, waiting patiently as Eugene cuts up the pie in several pieces, placing each on delicately on a place before passing each one. Ruddiger gets a slice before he gets the cup, because from the way he’s draping over Varian’s lap it’s much easier to let him drink cocoa later and just let him eat the pie now.</p><p>Rapunzel shares her slice with Pascal, she always does. After everyone’s been fed, Eugene takes his own slice and settles in beside them, making indistinguishable noises that tell Rapunzel he’s praising the food and the chefs with how good it tastes. Typical Eugene.</p><p>Rapunzel glances at Varian, and sees him sipping slowly, almost shyly, into the cup. The slice he was offered sits by his side, a small portion gone, and she brightens up considerably when Varian takes another bite. A big one.</p><p>By the look Eugene gives her, he knows exactly what she’s thinking. <em>He likes the apple pie.</em> They’ll ask the chefs to make more apple-related items next time. She’s sure Varian will like it.</p><p>For now, she’s satisfied with how things turned out. She can worry about her problems tomorrow.</p><p>But there’s still something she needs to do.</p><p>Or rather, someone she needs to talk to.</p><p>She doesn’t need <em>goggles </em>or a <em>prophecy </em>or a <em>secret message</em> to tell her that Corona will not change her tune for Varian anytime soon. The last thing he needs, after his harrowing experience with his father, is more scrutiny. Funnily enough, that means she’s going to have to send him <em>away </em>from the prying eyes of Corona, for his own good.</p><p>That night, she decides to contact someone she never thought she would have to call, not for something like this.</p><p>“<em>Rapunzel</em>?” the image on her wall greets. “Hey. I haven’t seen you in a while. What’s up?”</p><p>“It’s good to see you again,” she tells him. He’s changed a lot from the last time she saw him. Taller now, too. She thinks he might be the tallest one out of the four of them, this time. There’s stubble on his chin, which means she interrupted his sleep. A familiar black shape behind her friend shifts, then settles. “Are you doing okay?”</p><p>There are bandages on him. They look really recent. She ignores the pang of worry that strikes her heart at the sight. She knows he can take care of himself, but she can’t help it. He was one of her most precious friends -- and a well-kept secret. Only Eugene knew about them.</p><p>And if her friends agree, Varian would too. Soon enough.</p><p>“Okay, avoiding the question, something’s <em>definitely </em>wrong,” he mumbles, more to himself, but it’s loud enough that she still hears it. He’s not in the habit of lying to them, not at all, but they don’t force him to tell them anything he isn’t comfortable sharing. It’s just that he tends to think aloud, so they either politely ignore it, or politely and carefully bring it up, in case it was a sore subject.</p><p>“I’m alright, Rapunzel,” he tells her. “It was…well, okay, it was a close call, but my friends had my back. They always do.” It amazes Rapunzel how close he and his friends have grown close over a short span of time. Just years ago his friends had all been scorning him and now they were his most trusted confidants -- his allies, his brothers and sisters in everything but blood. “Thought that’s not what you’re calling for, is it?”</p><p>She gives him a wry smile. “Got it in one.” It’s not like she’s avoiding it on purpose, it’s <em>just</em>. It’s something she’s been contemplating whether or not to do. How does she even begin going about asking him for this?</p><p>“What do you need?” But as always, he’s quick on the uptake. Leadership suits him, Rapunzel reflects. He doesn’t think it does, but Rapunzel and the rest of their friends agree. This man has always been able to see past their masks and ascertain who they really were, and act accordingly. It's a good trait to have, and Rapunzel can only hope to one day acquire the same skill.</p><p>She takes a breath. He won’t reject her on principle. She knows he won’t. But this secret is one she’s kept for so long, has guarded with an intensity no one has ever faced. And now she was going to reveal it -- for a good reason, mind you, but it still is terrifying. She’s lost more than she’s gained this past year, and she doesn’t want to risk losing this to the whims of fate as well.</p><p>But Corona has left her with no choice.</p><p>“I need to ask you for a favor, Hiccup.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>please don't hesitate to tell me what you think! I'd love to hear from you!</p><p>also if you've read my previous fics then you might be able to guess what I'll be planning lmao</p><p>I am literally SO EXCITED THIS IS HAPPENING like I kid you the fuck not I'm writing this by the seat of my pants but I have,,,,,visions for this fic. I really really do. i hope you're all open to other ships than canon (but new dream is still canon in this fic, sorry) and open to....a lot of changes. I do not remember everything that happens in tangled the series but i will do my best to try. also about other series. </p><p>ANYWAY. the fact is i do not have a solid plot/plan for this and i would be happy if you let me write without the pressure of having super concrete plot. I have a general idea of what i want to happen here but not specifics. gimme some time, maybe? thanks.</p><p>yeah bye</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>